The cost of shipping continues to rise (especially for outside the U.S.). This is a fact of life and something we have no control over. What we DO have some measure of control over is how long we let you "hold" your purchases so that you can accumulate multiple purchases and have them sent in a single package or tube (whenever possible). We let all U.S. customers combine items from THREE weeks time (during which time we will often have auctioned 7,500 to 10,000 items!), and we let all non-U.S. customers combine items from SIX weeks time (during which time we will often have auctioned15,000 to 20,000 items!). At the end of that time we take all your items and combine them into as few packages as possible, and we only charge the actual cost of shipping, plus $3 per package for packaging materials (those in the U.S. can still get our "flat rate" charge after three weeks, if they have items that qualify. This almost always results in a massive savings over having each set of purchases sent separately.
     BUT WE ALSO WANT TO REMIND YOU OF ANOTHER POSSIBILITY THAT CAN SAVE YOU A LOT OF MONEY AS WELL! What is that? If you live outside the U.S. and know of another collector who lives within driving distance of you, then we will gladly combine your order with that of your friend's so you both save a lot on on shipping! All we need are e-mails from both of you confirming you want this done and then we will send the order to the person you choose, and he pays the shipping, and then when they arrive, you can meet and exchange the items, and settle up on shipping between yourselves, and you should save quite a bit.
     Of course, all this combining creates a LOT of extra work for us, but we are happy to do so, if it means our customers can save a lot on shipping, and have more money to spend on movie paper!

See Also:
Did you know... that we have revised our Autoship Program AND our Pay and Hold program?
Did you know... that we are making a major change in our shipping policy that is greatly to the benefit of ALL our customers?
Did you know... that people can't request shipping quotes until they are truly ready for a package to be sent to them?
Did you know... that the cost of U.S. shipping is almost always a "flat rate" no matter how many items you win (even if it is 100 items in a single set of auctions, or hundreds of items over five consecutive auctions)?
Did you know... that we do not make money on shipping, and we often lose money on a lot of the packages we send?